ATU scholarship would aid parents of some studentsParents of first-generation college students at Arkansas Tech University will soon be able to take one course at the institution with no charge for tuition or fees. The Arkansas Tech Board of Trustees gave its approval for the initiative during a meeting at the Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center on Thursday. “Perhaps this offer will serve as a launching point toward academic goals that were deferred earlier in life,” said Dr. Robin...

Officials urge caution while out boatingLITTLE ROCK — Arkansans are looking for ways to cool down during the long summer days. Many will head to one of the State’s beautiful lakes or rivers. With more than 200,000 boats registered statewide according to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, many residents spend a lot of time boating to beat the heat. But boaters need to remember to be cautious on the water. A 14-year-old girl was killed in Arkansas Thursday in a jet ski accident, a...

Pottsville fund raiserThe Pottsville Middle Grades GT students raised $1,100 for The Russ Bus during May by holding a used book sale and a bake sale at Vintage Books on East Parkway Drive in Russellville.

Hector to purchase messageHECTOR — The Hector City Council voted at its monthly meeting Monday to purchase an electronic message board to improve communication in the community. After much discussion on several options (including a plastic change-a-letter type sign which the council felt might prove too attractive to the mischievous of young residents), the council authorized Mayor John Riley to order a LED unit with the city’s logo and a programmable message panel on ...

Oakland Cemetery to include columbariumsThe Oakland Cemetery Commission approved a plat for a memorial garden addition that would include two columbariums during its regular meeting Tuesday at City Hall. Commissioners reviewed hexagonal structures that hold urns, called columbariums, and proposed costs from two companies. One columbarium would include 72 units and be placed along the north-south property line in the cemetery. A preliminary design for a memorial garden would include ...

South Korea — "Here we are"Chance and fate have always titillated, sometimes enervated and always confounded man. The Greeks debated them, the Romans did their best to annihilate them if they got in their way and we live within their seemingly fickle sway, although the one is often indistinguishable from the other. Shawn Taurone, a Lamar High School math teacher, was offered a sizeable chunk of money by a pipeline company for a strip of his property north of Dover. An e...

River Valley Rewind (June 17, 2015)Each week The Courier will roll back the clock to take a look at the events and people from our past. These photos are presented without alteration to photo or the caption. Reprinted from a 1961 edition of The Courier-Democrat. ALL-DISTRICT HONORS ... in junior high band competition were won by 19 Russellville bandsmen at clinic tryouts Saturday in Booneville. They are: Front row — John Sease, Johnny Luker, Dicky Niven, Luther Boudra and James...

RHS history: Shot-putter Paul WhiteThere have been many outstanding individual and team accomplishments by Russellville High School (RHS) student-athletes in in its history. To single out one individual achievement as the best is indeed ambitious and open to debate. There is one athletic achievement, however, meriting serious consideration as the top individual feat by an RHS athlete, and it occurred 41 years ago. On June 22, 1974, Paul White unleased a shot-put throw that was ...

Funeral home owners charged with corpse abuseLITTLE ROCK — The owners of a closed Arkansas funeral home were charged Tuesday with 13 counts of abuse of a corpse after regulators found bodies stacked on top of each other and some stored outside of a freezer earlier this year. Arkansas Funeral Care’s owners, 86-year-old LeRoy Wood and his 61-year-old son, Rod Wood, appeared in Jacksonville District Court early Tuesday and were released on their own recognizance. Former funeral director and...

Murder trial reset for SeptemberThe trial for two men accused of first-degree murder in 2009 has been rescheduled, Fifth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney David Gibbons said Tuesday. Michael Hall, 25 and Nathan Hull, 24, pleaded innocent to charges of first-degree murder in the 2009 murder of Clint Brown of Dover through their attorneys Feb. 2 in Pope County Circuit Court. Their trial was set to begin with jury selection Monday at the Pope County Courthouse, but Hull ha...

PCQC Justices to discuss 'at large' animalsThree members of the Pope County Quorum Court (PCQC) will meet at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Atkins School District administration building to discuss options in handling vicious and intractable animals brought to the PCQC’s attention at its regular June 4 meeting. Pope County resident Debbie DuVall told the justices about an unnamed neighbor whose dogs run free, attacking members of her family and the neighborhood and damaged her property. Two re...

City Corp. board approves budgetThe board of directors for City Corp. approved its budget for 2015-16 during its regular meeting Tuesday at the water utility’s office. The fiscal year for City Corp. ends June 30 and begins July 1. According to statistics provided to board members by General Manager Steve Mallett, the combined water and wastewater (sewer) budget reflects total projected revenues of $11,273,437 with a total operation and maintenance budget excluding all bond c...

PCQC Justices to discuss 'at large' animalsThree members of the Pope County Quorum Court (PCQC) will meet at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Atkins School District administration building to discuss options in handling vicious and intractable animals brought to the PCQC’s attention at its regular June 4 meeting. Pope County resident Debbie DuVall told the justices about an unnamed neighbor whose dogs run free, attacking members of her family and the neighborhood and damaged her property. Two re...

RHS seniors visit former elementary schoolRHS seniors visit former elementary school Seniors at Russellville High school who were former Center Valley students were treated to a reception/reunion last month at Center Valley Elementary. The students watched a DVD that was made during their elementary years, visited former teachers, toured the building and played on the playground.

Local business owners sentenced in scamPHILADELPHIA — Calvin Duncan, 63, a former Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) employee who shipped illegal items to Russellville business owners, was sentenced last week to two years in prison and three years of supervised release for a scheme to defraud the city of Philadelphia of more than $1 million. Duncan, of Philadelphia, worked as a mailroom clerk and was responsible for purchasing supplies, including printer ink and toner cartridges, ...

by
Sean Ingram and Adam FranksThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Because we canStudents in Arkansas Tech’s new service organization, Because We Can, organized “Clean Out for Kids” as residents of Tech dorms vacated their rooms for the summer. The group is sponsored by Dr. Sean Huss of the Behavioral Sciences Department. Huss and Sue Hastings-Bishop (pictured), visiting lecturer in the Tech Parks and Recreation Department, coordinated the students’ placement of collection boxes in 14 Tech dorms. Departing students donated...

News Briefs (June 16, 2015)Arkansas Valley’s Outstanding Teen Pageant Young women statewide are invited-to compete in the 20th Miss Arkansas Valley’s Outstanding Teen Pageant. Contestants must be between ages 13-17 by July 24, 2015. Contestants will compete in aerobic wear, evening gown, on-stage question, interview and talent. The pageant will be held in Clarksville on July 24-25. For more information call 479-754-3065. Valley Voyage day camp at Lake Dardanelle State P...

Tech honors retiree Morgan with receptionJulie Nebben Morgan, an alumna of Arkansas Tech University and member of the university staff since 1998, is retiring effective June 30. During her nearly two decades on the Tech staff, Morgan has served in the roles of assistant to the president (1998-2004 and 2008-present) and director of alumni relations (2004-08). Morgan oversaw planning for the Arkansas Tech centennial celebration and the inauguration of Dr. Robin E. Bowen as the 12th pre...

Special Olympics flame across U.S.Hundreds of volunteers from businesses, organizations and parties with and without affiliations marched through the streets of downtown Little Rock on Friday to participate in carrying the Special Olympics flame across the country to its destination in Los Angeles. Russellville residents, including Darla Jones, Area 17 director for Special Olympics Arkansas, and her son Robert, an athlete who’s competed in Special Olympics all over the country...

2015 Miss Arkansas' Outstanding Teen crowned Saturday nightPictured is Miss Arkansas’ Outstanding Teen 2015, Gracie Stover (center) with Miss Arkansas Ashton Campbell and Miss Arkansas' Outstanding Teen 2014 Ashton Yarbrough. Stover will receive a $3,000 scholarship and will go on to represent Arkansas at Miss America’s Outstanding Teen pageant in Orlando at the end of July. The new MAOT received a prize package valued at almost $30,000. Stover is a native of Little Rock and is the daughter of Mike an...